MMA Personalities News - Page 5

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Former UFC middleweight Tim Creduer today turned himself into authorities two weeks after a warrant was issued for his arrest on drug and firearms charges.
Credeur was taken into custody after he reported to the Lafayette (La.) County Correctional Center at 9:30 a.m. He later posted two bonds totaling $5,500 on a misdemeanor charge of marijuana possession and possession of a firearm in the presence of a Schedule I narcotic.
Lafayette police issued a warrant for Credeur's arrest on May 29...

Josh Burkman is a man of his word. So when he signs a contract, you can expect him to fulfill the terms of it.
That's why the resurgent welterweight, who upset former UFC title challenger Jon Fitch this past weekend in World Series of Fighting 3's main event, won't be returning to the UFC even if his former home made him a new offer.
Right now, his loyalty is to the WSOF, where he's 3-0 with wins over Fitch, Aaron Simpson and Gerald Harris. Now 8-1 since his 2008 UFC release, Burkman recently nabbed an honorable mention slot in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie.com MMA welterweight rankings.

UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz (16-11-1 MMA, 15-11-1 UFC) takes a deep breath before he answers. Long one of the most outspoken men in the sport of MMA, Ortiz briefly considers just how much he wants to reveal. But as he weighs the reality staring up at him on a computer screen, he decides to go all in.
"I wasn't going to talk about it, but my kids are down for a nap right now," Ortiz told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "I just took an hour nap, myself, because I get up at 6 a.m. every morning, and I take care of these kids Monday through Saturday. I have a nanny that comes in and helps me because Jenna doesn't want to be a mom. She has a problem, and I don't want to bash her because she's the mother of my children. But I've tried to help somebody for the last seven years. I tried to make a family, and it's hard to do that when somebody else doesn't want to contribute. I just look at as I can't help somebody that doesn't want to be helped. She can try and bash me as much as possible. The only thing it's hurting is my children."

The next members of the UFC's Hall of Fame put themselves on a path to enshrinement more than eight years ago.
Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar, who took part in what is widely regarded as the most important fight in UFC history, as well as one of the best fights in MMA history, will go into the UFC's Hall of Fame this summer...

Matt Serra won't say he's officially retired, but he might never fight again.
The former UFC welterweight champion recently told Newsday that a recent health scare put his life into perspective, and right now, he doesn't see much reason to continue fighting.
That is, unless his longtime promoter finds its way through a legal quagmire that has kept it out of Serra's home state of New York. A fight in Madison Square Garden is the only thing on his competitive bucket list.
"But at the same time, if that doesn't happen, I definitely consider myself done," Serra told Newsday. "It's hard to say the 'R word.' I might never say the 'R word.'"

Gegard Mousasi is currently rehabbing his injured knee, but when he returns, the former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion may very well be fighting in a brand new division.
"There's a big chance that I will go to middleweight," Mousasi revealed to MMAFighting.com "It all depends on the fights that I'm going to get. If I'm going to get a big name at middleweight, I'll probably go down.
"It's all about matchups. Let's say they're going to give me somebody like Vitor Belfort that's maybe a contender. That's the kind of fight I want."
Mousasi fought much of his early career in Japan at middleweight, and easily tipped the scales at 204 pounds without cutting weight for his UFC debut.
In the past, the 27-year-old believed dropping back down would've been a dicey proposition, but after considering the way he's recently trained and the ease with which he's lost weight, he's now confident it won't be a problem.
"To be honest, I believe middleweight will be much better for me," Mousasi said. "I will give my opponent less advantages. But at the end of the day it's all about skills. That doesn't mean that size advantages always win, but like I've said, in the highest level, you don't want to give the slightest edge to your opponent. Everyone is skilled, everyone has abilities. So that's why I think middleweight will be much more suitable to my body frame.
"It's all about the opportunity," he continued. "I really want to go for this belt. I believe that style-wise, matchup-wise, I matchup much better against Anderson Silva than Jon Jones, but it doesn't mean that I'm scared to fight at 205. Jon Jones is skilled and so is Anderson Silva, but at the highest levels, when you're competing against the top levels, you don't want to give anybody an advantage. So I don't want to give a weight and size difference advantage also. That's why I said middleweight."
Mousasi is currently ahead of schedule in his recovery from injury and is targeting a late-2013 comeback to the Octagon. When he returns, the Dutch-Armenian fighter hopes to immediately make up for lost time.
"My focus is to get to the belt as soon as possible," said Mousasi. "I‘ve done the route of [waiting]. I don't have those things that other fighters complain about, jetlag and days off. I don't have those issues. I never have. So I'm just looking for big fights.
"The fight I had last (Ilir Latifi), the guy wasn't known, he wasn't ranked. It doesn't mean anything. But I have a history. I only haven't fought in UFC, but I have a history. People come and get immediate title shots. I don't think that's going to be the case for me, but I've beaten champions, ex-champions. So it's all about one, maybe two big names and then I hope to get a title shot."

A day after handing Nate Diaz an indefinite suspension pending an investigation, the UFC has come up with its terms for the recent lightweight title challenger following a derogatory tweet. Diaz has been suspended for 90 days and fined $20,000.

Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney claims his promotion never once contacted Leonard Garcia (15-11-1) about a potential deal with the tournament-based promotion. Garcia's team isn't buying it.
"In light of Bellator's alleged legal chicanery with their own champions like Eddie Alvarez and Zach Makovsky, and high-profile fighters like Leonard Garcia making known their desire to avoid a potentially bad situation, it is not surprising Bellator is trying to get ahead of the bad PR plaguing their promotion," Garcia's reps at Haymaker's Empire Sports Management wrote in a statement issued to MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "However, this story about a 'phantom' Bellator representative making phony offers to fighters just strains credulity."
Garcia fought 17 times under the Zuffa banner from 2007 until this past month's UFC 159 event. While always an entertaining brawler, Garcia suffered five consecutive losses in the UFC's octagon and was released from his contract with the promotion...

Mark Hunt has been unable to fly to the US to prepare for his upcoming UFC 160 bout with Junior dos Santos. He has been keeping a running commentary on twitter as to the reasons why, which involve visa issues and a recent arrest.